Spark Handheld Video Game Kit

A kit to teach soldering and programming for fun and profit!... yes it is Arduino compatible :)

Jason Peterson

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Description

The Spark is a small video game kit. It has the parts, instructions, and code needed to build a console that is simple enough for beginners. If there is interest I will put together a few kits and put them on Tindie and GitHub.

Years ago my Dad had an office next to Radio Shack. I was thirteen or fourteen at the time. I would spend an hour or so dayly browsing the parts wondering if I could build something cool. I stumbled upon an FM Transmitter Kit. It was a small kit with a PCB and all the parts and soldering instructions. I built it in an evening and took it to school. I still have friends that say, "Dude!, that kid built a walkie-talkie from scratch in the seventh grade and it worked!" It wasn't exactly from "scratch" but pretty close!

I now have a very rewarding career as an electronics designer and firmware engineer. I want to share with others the feeling I had the first time I put together a cool project. I hope the Spark fulfills this!

Details

Here is a game video!

Components

1 × Custom PCB The main printed circuit board. It has all the parts labeled and a parts list on the front. It was specifically designed for easy soldering of both the surface mount and through hole parts.
1 × Coin Cell Battery The Spark will run for nearly 48 hours straight on a single 2032 battery.
1 × 3.5 mm Jack Used for two player games!
1 × Battery Holder A 2032 coin cell battery holder.
1 × OLED Display 48 x 64 Pixel white on black illuminated display

View all 13 components

Project Logs

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Working on the Manual
Jason Peterson • 5 days ago • 0 comments

Here are a couple pics of the assembly manual. I hope to have it finished this week. It is 5 x 7 spiral bound.
Quick Update
Jason Peterson • 11/04/2019 at 18:45 • 0 comments

I am finishing up on the manual and the code base this week. I should have more to post shortly. Thank you for the likes and follows! --Jason
Inspiration for Spark
Jason Peterson • 10/22/2019 at 18:55 • 0 comments

I spent hours pouring over the Radio Shack "Engineer's Notebook" project books. What is unique about these books is that they had all the parts listed that you could purchase while you were at Radio Shack. There are electronics suppliers and kit producers online now but none have captured the easy of building like the "Engineer's Notebook". I hope to capture the essence of these long forgotten manuals with the Spark Kit.
Here is an "Engineer's Notebook" from my childhood: